burglar alarm

an automatic device for giving an alarm when a window, door, safe, etc., is opened or tampered with, as by a burglar.

Origin of burglar alarm

First recorded in 1830–40

He gives you time to sound your burglar-alarm and to get a pistol from under your pillow.

The Rulers of the Mediterranean |Richard Harding Davis
Here it ran for several weeks as a telephone system by day and a burglar-alarm by night.

The History of the Telephone |Herbert N. Casson
You should have had a burglar-alarm, she said, patronizingly.

The Doctor's Red Lamp |Various
These could be switched into connection with the burglar-alarm wires and any two of the six wires could be joined by a wire cord.

The History of the Telephone |Herbert N. Casson

If they disappoint you, he remarked, may I suggest that burglar-alarm?

Under Cover |Roi Cooper Megrue